14th June 2016 Daily Blog from Cornwall Day 2. Falmouth.

 Today our destination was Falmouth. We started about two miles from the outskirts at a pretty little place called Maenporth which is just a beach and a café. As with so many beaches round here it was no dogs allowed. It was £3 to park all day which was OK.

The car park. £3 regardless how long you're here so get your money's worth.

We set off along the coast path to Falmouth. It’s quite steep but there is plenty of foliage between the cliff and the path so dogs can run free here. There are some nice views through the foliage but much of the view is obscured until you arrive at Swanpool beach which is again dog free. Chuck was starting to get upset.

Swanpool Beach. Again no dogs. Totally speciesist.

The next mile or so is promenade with hotels on one side and beach on the other. It is a typical English seaside place. This is definitely the quiet end of Falmouth. There are no shops this side but on a plus note I couldn’t see any parking restrictions here so it’s probably free. But don’t use this in a court of law in case I’m wrong.

A buildingy thing. Probably should have saved this for Instagram.

We passed around Pendennis Point next which features a hilltop fort. We didn’t go up to the fort as it’s paying attraction and I assume it was also ‘no dogs’. But there are plenty of mini forts on the water front to explore for free and Chuck finally got to go in the water. He met Bill here too, a golden Labrador who latched onto any stick Chuck missed.

Chuck swimming after sticks.

Coming back off the point you get an amazing view from above Falmouth Docks. These are so old fashioned. The cranes look like they should be museum pieces but are still being used. There are several large dry docks here too.

Smaller castles are free. Great for those on a budget. Or tight.

Falmouth town centre is much better than your standard seaside town. There were lots of great looking places to eat. It was too early at the time but we came back later on after the walk. We had a drink in one of the harbour front pubs of which there were many. I got to witness two OAPs nearly coming to blows over who was next to be served at the bar. There’s something you don’t see every day. It was more foul mouth than Falmouth. Ha ha ha!! Sorry.

Dry dock. Holds 230m litres of water apparently.

We took a direct route out of Falmouth back to the car along a footpath which cuts through a housing estate and back into the country. After about a mile through fields we got back to the car. We then drove to Sainsbury’s which has unlimited free parking and is only about a twenty minute walk from the centre. Top tip free parking hunters.

A great place to watch old people fighting.

We ate in a place called The Meat Counter. If you are a vegetarian you might want to skip this part. It looked a bit hipster from the outside but I’ve never had such high quality meat for such a low price. There are boards displaying where their meat is sourced and how it’s aged on the walls. A double burger was £10 and a 250g steak was less than £15. Although how big that is in English I have no idea. The food was delicious. The only slight let down was that the drinks seemed to have some sort of American theme so lots of Sam Addams and stupidly sweet cider. Worst of all, NO GIN!

Waiting for meat.

Falmouth is great to see the way we did it. I think you’d struggle to fill a day here unless you like shopping for dust collecting ornaments. There is a museum about shipping and the like but I’m not sure if it’s a day filler. Tomorrow we’re off to Penzance and possibly St Ives too via the train.